Ever snuck a Guitar into your collection without your partner knowing?

[obe-wan]

I once bought a Gibson Les Paul Junior on the sly. If we ever jammed at my house, someone would keep an eye out on the driveway in case my Girlfriend came home. Id quickly put the Junior away and strap on my Telecaster. I managed to keep this a secret for enough time that I eventually got G.A.S. for something else and sold it. She never knew it existed. It was really dishonest of me I know, I feel really bad.............

[Artisan]

Wan-Obe.. Recovery will take time.

Meanwhile - there is a new "case" which is said to be "spouse proof".  Inside, it is a plushly padded new TKL - but outside is aged with UV light, complete with chips and burn marks (rumored to have been driven around a parking lot, tied behind a Range Rover), and comes with a faded bumper sticker "Nashvegas - Eat More Rhinestones" - She'll never know!!   

[Tycho]

My SO is a guitar player!  I don't have this problem!

Her mantra when I'm looking at a new guitar is: "Well if you really love it, you should get it." 

And of course I always do.

[Danny]

   A couple about 2 months ago. But I have a dozen so some just look like others. The recent Martin arrival was one that couldn't be snuck in. But she likes it and never has complained about my purchases. Sometimes they get in the way in the house though. So I put some back in cases and closets and a parlour under a table and another in a large chest.
            So how do you sneak in a music room?
   

[tadol]

I'll have to wait for the thread, " Ever actually tell your partner about a new guitar before the delivery truck pulls up?"

  Tad

[Danny]

I'll have to wait for the thread, " Ever actually tell your partner about a new guitar before the delivery truck pulls up?"

  Tad

  UH OH.....

[pennerblue]

While my wife was on vacation last month, I went to buy a "beater" guitar.  I did. An Art & Lutherie, which sounds darned good for the money.  As I was closing the deal...one of those gorgeous Silver Oak Larrivees was staring at me...literally.  It's like it had eyes!  I played it and played it and played it, and PAID it.  Two guitars from one shop at the same time.  And this was only a month after getting my first Larriee (L03R), and I'm not an investment banker.  But, I just couldn't "not get it", the tone was unique and the GAS bug bit me. (I can't help but think back to that old Bugs Bunny cartoon with the gambling bug that would keep biting that cat and he'd play cards against the bulldog for penalties).   Anyway, I can't say I snuck it into my collection.  The day before she returned, I lined up all the cases against the wall of the living room.  After about an hour after she sat down she exclaimed, "What are all these guitar cases?"  I paused.  "Did you buy another guitar?"  I held up TWO fingers...GULP!  She has been awesome about it, though.

Ironically she likes the A&L (cherry back and sides).

The other day, I almost fell for a Gibson DM.  THAT one, I'd had to sneak in for sure.  Or the used all-hog D03 that randomly showed up at the Taylor dealer the other day...GEEZ!  These darned Larrivees have just turned me into a guitar lovin' madman. 

Come to think of it, I did sneak an entire PA system into my collection somehow.

[Artisan]

Very nice post, Penner Blue - thanks for sharing!   

[ducktrapper]

Um, yes, of  course. My name is Tom and I am a         guitar playing fool!

[tonejones]

Oh obe-wan...where do I begin...A couple years ago I started to GAS for electrics.  I picked up the standard tele that you see in my quote, but that was not enough...I absolutely fell in love with the Fender Eric Johnson Strat...I found a sweet one and could not help myself...out goes the credit card and I sneak home the strat AND a small Fender Blues Junior amp to go along with the VOX that I purchased with my tele a week or so before...I hid it under the guest bed and put the amp in the guest closet where she never ventures.  I would bring it out when I was home alone and jam...in the end, I could not take it (it is so hard to not be able to play an axe you truly love whenever the muse strikes!).  Two weeks later we had an unexpected expense creep up and I caved and returned the whole setup (luckily it was a Guitar Center, so the return was easy)....My wife never knew that wonderful axe existed!  So dishonest, but what can I say, GAS got the best of me.  I now own an '82 Yairi classical that she has not seen, but this was a much smaller purchase, and she is just not that interested in those!

So just know that you are not alone!  I must say that I felt a little better about my dirty deeds after seeing someone else fell into the same web.

[ducktrapper]

Whatever happened to "Don't Ask. Don't Tell."?

[tonejones]

Oh and by the way,

My name is Matthew...

pause..."HI MATTHEW" from everyone in the room.

...and I am an addict

[omozom]

Her mantra when I'm looking at a new guitar is: "Well if you really love it, you should get it."


She wouldn't have a unwed sister would she?

[obe-wan]

"What are all these guitar cases?"  I paused.  "Did you buy another guitar?"  I held up TWO fingers...GULP!  She has been awesome about it, though.

Come to think of it, I did sneak an entire PA system into my collection somehow.

Wow, you win mate!
I would have been skinned alive. A PA? Amazing, You should start a thread on how to do this, it'd be very popular.
I'm still trying to work out how I can fly up to Brisbane (4 hr flight) buy ballanwood's 000-50, get home and hide it somewhere with out my wife asking why it took so long to go get milk.......I'm working on it.

[teh]

I am fortunate and lucky because I don't have to sneak around. Here's why:

1) My wife bought me a Martin Backpacker for Christmas in 1995 because she didn't want my D-35 to get beat up or subject to weather related issues when we were camping and boating.

2) It was a long dry spell from 1996 to 2003 because we had two or three kids in college at any one time. In 2004, she gave me the green light to buy my first Larrivee (A Parlour). We also helped my son by a Taylor Guitar for his graduation present in 2002.

3) In 2005, she encouraged my kids who were all out of school by then to save their pocket change and on my 50th birthday, they gave me $1,400 in cash to buy my LV-03MT 12 String Larrivee (Special Order).

4) In 2006, I gave my D-35 a well deserved refret job with her blessing. She also found me a Oahu Square Neck guitar from the 1930s at an antique store for $30 and offered the guy $20 at the end of the day and he sold it to her.

5) In 2007, she gave me the green light to buy an OM-35 Sunburst which was being discontinued to match my D-35 Sunburst. About two months later, she asked when I was going to buy a dobro because she loves Jerry Douglas playing with Allison Krauss and Uniion Station. She also made me a quilt to hang on the wall using my D-35 as a template for the pattern.

6) In 2008, she and I bought my youngest son an LXM (Little Martin) to have in Iraq to get him through his 15 month deployment and we bought our number two son a starter banjo for his birthday.

7) My daughter-in-law gave my son the green light to buy a National Delphi (Resonator Guitar) this weekend.

Every story is true so if I felt compelled to sneak, I would be completely nuts.

[tonejones]

Wow, talk about an understanding and supportive partner!  My wife is supportive of my music, but she absolutely does not understand why any one person needs more than one acoustic guitar and/or one electric.  She began taking lessons last year after I bought her a Seagull Grand parlor, so I thought maybe getting her started would open her mind a bit to the necessities of us persnickers and our guitar obsessions....Alas, it helped not one jot.  She is not to the point yet where she can truly "hear the difference" in good/poor pick-ups or the tonal variations of different wood and structural combinations in acoustics.  I can only hope that one day the bug will latch onto her and we will help each other into bankruptcy with new Larrivees!

[tonejones]

Oh, and obe-wan, trust me and all of us in the 000 club...it will be well worth the trouble to add a 000-50 to your secret collection!  However, you might end up in the situation I found myself in with the Eric Johnson Strat...not being able to play it whenever the mood strikes...It will drive you nuts.

[Walkerman]

My wife tells me she doesn't know what to get me for Xmas, Father's day and my birthday.  I ask if she just wants me to buy my own gift, to which she always answers yes.  So, now I have a dozen guitars, a mandolin, a banjo and a uke.  Oh, and I have a cusatom Collings M5 deluxe mandolin being made from last Fathers day.  Ain't life a bugger. Once in awhile she does ask if I need so many guitars, so I tell her that I am collecting them to give to our sons...who both play guitar.  I say when they settle down, they'll each be getting a 6 a 12 and a mando.

[markyboy]

When I brought my L-05 home. My wife said "It looks just like the other one" (72 Yamaha f160).
Hmmm.... I wonder if she would notice a 3rd guitar (maybe a Gibson SJ-200, or a Larrivee 00-50 TSB, or a bright red Les Paul)....

Hey thanks for the idea!!!! 

[ducktrapper]

After my son moved and I took over the basement as my music room, I had more guitars come out of hiding than clowns out of a circus volkswagon!